14 again: First homestay, part 2

At some point, we visited Wat Nong Wang, which is jokingly called the Eiffel Tower of Khon Kaen. I was able to take two pictures, so here they are!

The next day (Wednesday) was probably my favorite day this week.

N'Tha and I arrived at school via sawng tao as normal again, and we participated in a flag-raising ceremony that apparently happens every morning before school starts. All the kids gathered in the courtyard and did marching band/military-esque lineups, sang the Thai national anthem, and recited some stuff I couldn't understand. Then, we all had to stand in the front of the entire student body and introduce ourselves. There were some fun moments here, but I'll get to them later. So, the schedule said that we had, "Thai Fun Activity I" for 3 hours that morning. Hmm, suspicious.

I met with the rest of the group, and we were led up to a pretty large classroom within the, "Mini English Program," building at Suan Sanuk. About 50 kids filed in through the sliding glass doors, all in the same uniform, signifying that they were all in the same grade. All of our host brothers and sisters were there, as well as representatives from the Urban Youth Organization in Khon Kaen (3 really chipper 20somethings, 2 girls, 1 dude). We started out with some ridiculous hand-holding, get-in-touch-with-your-feelings activities, and we of course did some simple ice breakers. We also did some fun drawing activities in small groups of about 10 people (2 of us CIEE people and 8 kids) where we had to draw a picture of something that represented us. I was drawing some mountains and a lake representing Western NC and Lake Michigan respectively, and my friend's host brother, N'Dong, was drawing a river with, like, a green log on it or something. This kid literally had me rolling on the ground laughing the entire time; he told a bunch of jokes/puns that would only make sense in Thai all while making fun of how badly I speak Thai. Seriously, this kid was awesome.

We ended the session with building boats out of posterboard, a few sheets of paper, some string, some oil pastels, and pingpong balls. It was like OM all over again. Then, we had to name our boats in the form of a 6-syllable rhyme. I don't really remember what my group's was, but it had to do with food. And another group's had the phrase paht fuck in it, like, 3 times. The phrase means to cook or stir-fry a kind of bitter melon, but it obviously sounds, y'know, obscene. We then played a game where each of us said part of a sentence which, in English, goes like, "Sink a ship! Load the gunpowder! Pull the trigger! Bang! Boom! Bang! I want to sink the ship, 'Whatever the name of the opposing group's ship was.'" Out of five groups, my group made it to 3rd place because I messed up; my phrase was, "load the gunpowder!" but it's tongue-twister-y in Thai, so I let my team down. :( But afterwards, we reflected on everything, and these kids were so mature and said so many wise-sounding statements about our time together.

The whole time, I was just surprised at how well these 14-15 year olds accepted this alternative form of education. These activities were meant to teach us that there are other forms of communication other than language (okay, I obviously cheated on this one; I spoke in Thai with the kids the entire time...), though I felt that we were doing it in the most elementary ways possible; for example, when I was in the eighth grade, I don't think I would have wanted to draw and hold hands and share my feelings for 3 hours. Yet these kids stuck it out and really seemed to enjoy our presence and our companionship. Brought tears to my eyes, it did.

Afterwards, we had a 3 hour session with just the CIEE kids, and I went to the hospital. My feet were still swollen and bug bite-infested that I thought I should get it checked out. Thankfully, the doctor said that it was just an allergic reaction and that it might be slightly infected. So she gave me some ointment with antibiotics and steroids so all is well. Mosquitoes are still biting me like crazy, but I've learned to not itch things that itch and to instead slather on some Golden Cup balm or the ointment.

My lifesaver.

N'Tha and I then went to this lake called Bueng Kaen Nakhon and rode bikes. We actually met up with her sister (!!!) and her best friend. Her sister, er, my other host sister, is still my nong, so she went by N'Nam. So, that was weird. Here's a picture of the lake!

That night, nothing particularly exciting happened. The next day, the CIEE group had to attend an exchange with members of TNP+, a nonprofit organization that caters to individuals living with HIV through support and lobbying (for better access to medicine, etc.) efforts. It was a tear-jerking and extremely educational experience. Ask me if you would like to know more.

The next day, we had to leave our host families. :( At Suan Sanuk, there were kids crying and taking pictures and asking for email addresses. They really, really didn't want us to go, for reasons I'll go into later. Baww. :( At Thai that day, though, Ajaan Maliwan gave me some Vietnamese coffee, and it was literally the most delicious thing I've ever had. Ever. And some people in my group decided to go to Central again because one of the girls had to get some sea salt to clean out her new nose piercing that she had gotten at a night market. So I decided to finally get my ears pierced for like, $5. It was a deal, I tell you. A deal.

Today, we went to the Forest Temple for some meditation and group bonding. I know, I know, it's like the forest temple in the Legend of Zelda... But not. Here are some pictures!

So a few more things about Thailand.

You may have been familiar with motorcycles. Thus far, I've been on one with two other teenage girls, wearing a helmet. I've also been on one with my language ajaan, without a helmet. And lastly, I've been on one with 2 17 year old girls and 1 14 year old girl without a helmet. The whole time, I was absolutely terrified. In my mind, I kept picturing the headlines of a Thai newspaper or in my Google Reader, "4 girls die in tragic motorcycle accident, was their own fault."

Also, I mentioned the sawng tao before, the pickup truck that functions as a bus. Not only have I sat in one, but I have also stood on the edge of one before, with cars tailing the truck and almost touching my backside or backpack or what have you.

I've also been in a tuk-tuk going down the highway. Did I mention that the only traffic rules that I've seen has been 1) stop at red lights, and 2) drive on the left side of the road? Yeah. And taxis and most cars don't have seatbelts. D:

Additionally, five things that Thailand should adopt are:

1. Toilet paper,

2. Tissues/napkins

3. Trashcans

4. Easy-to-locate recycling areas

5. Normal toilets. Like, not squat-toilets, which are prevalent in homes around here. I don't want to feel like I'm going to slip and fall butt-first into the toilet if my feet or toilet seat are slightly moist, okay?

Last, if there's anything I've found that are similar about kids in Thailand, it's that they're just as hormonal and ridiculous as teenage girls in the US. At Suan Sanuk, girls were going absolutely CRAZY over my friend Alex, who apparently bears a slight resemblance to Robert Pattinson, but I don't get it. And they also went fangirl-style crazy over the other guys for similar reasons. For example, the first time we had to introduce ourselves during the flag ceremony, Alex goes, "Pom chuh Alex," which means, "My name is Alex," and literally every girl in the courtyard squealed. And they always rushed to take pictures with him and the other guys. Plus, the girls liked to pet one of the other girls on my program's hair, mostly because it was blonde. This is one of the only times where I'm GLAD to finally fit into a society; only some of the kids I was close to wanted pictures with me, and if you know me, I'm totally okay with that and only that. However, N'Dong, who I mentioned before, definitely asked me for my address in the US, my phone number in Thailand and the US, my email address, and... asked me if I had a boyfriend. Yes, a 15-16 year old boy asked me this. I kind of headdesk'd myself when that happened and told him that I wasn't going to pedo over him, but I didn't really communicate it well in Thai. Mostly because I don't know the word for pedo in Thai.

Anyway, tomorrow is filled with Thai class and other random classes. I MISS YOU ALLLLL.